Lies My Teacher Told Me by James Loewen Essay example

James Loewen wrote the book ?Lies My Teacher Told ME? to help the students of the United States become aware of their true history. This book attempts to show how and why American history has been taught the way it has without regard for the truth. Mr. Loewen had compared twelve different history textbooks they are: The Great Republic, The American Way, Land of Promise, Rise of the American Nation, Challenge of Freedom, American Adventures, Discovering American History, The American Tradition, Life and Liberty, The United States ? A History of the Republic, Triumph of the American Nation and The American Pageant. Loewen has argued his cases for Heroification, Euorcentrism and the first settlers, and Racism in our history. He has done†¦show more content†¦(Lies?22) Under his administration Wilson intervened in Latin America more often than at any other time in our history. He also led us into an ?Unknown War? (Robert Maddock) that not even one of the twelve textbooks Loewen r eviewed mentions. (Lies?24) Racial problems also plagued Wilson throughout his Presidency abusing power as Chief Executive he segregated the Federal Government. He appointed whites to offices that were traditionally reserved for black Americans. Also during his second term in office a wave of antiblack race riots swept the country and many blacks had lost their lives. Again these are only two examples amongst countless others which show how the textbooks do not show flaws in historical figures but heroifies them. Euorcentrism is a term that is used in this book to describe how history has been written with its influence mainly from Europe or a European perspective. This unfortunately bases the way history is written and taught for example, textbooks use Christopher Columbus and 1492 as the day the Americas were ?discovered? and by whom. Quite to the contrary the Vikings had landed in North America in approximately 1005 AD, but have been neglected when it comes to being given credit for the ?discovery?. (Lies?43) The real catcher to all of this is that the Americas had been inhabited during all of this by Native Indians who supposedly livedShow MoreRelated Lies My Teacher Told Me by James W. Loewen Essay1948 Words   |  8 PagesLies My Teacher Told Me by James W. Loewen High school history textbooks are seen, by students, as presenting the last word on American History. Rarely, if ever, do they question what their text tells them about our collective past. According to James W. Loewens Lies My Teacher Told Me, they should be. Loewen has spent considerable time and effort reviewing history texts that were written for high school students. In Lies, he has reviewed twenty texts and has compared them to the actualRead MoreEssay about Analysis in James W. Loewen ´s Lies My Teacher Told Me1225 Words   |  5 Pages James W. Loewen wrote the book â€Å"Lies My Teacher Told Me† to help students understand the past of the United States, and how it is effecting the present time. â€Å"Lies My Teacher Told Me† looks at 12 different American history textbooks, and points out the different lies, flaws, and sugar coated stories the textbooks present. Lowen explains how textbooks practice heroification, and how race and race relations ar e a major issue when it comes to American history. Among these topics, Lowen also shedsRead MoreEssay about Christopher Columbus: Hero or Villain?781 Words   |  4 Pagesall of our years that we are taught about world history, we are led to believe that Columbus was one of the greatest explorers of all time. In my mind there is no question about whether Christopher Columbus discovered America; of course he did, its Columbus! However, this is a highly debated issue and through writings by authors Jeffery Hart and James W. Loewen we will investigate the true importance of Columbus. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;In the essay written by Jeffrey Hart entitled, â€Å"DiscoveringRead MoreEssay on Lies My Teacher Told Me Heroification821 Words   |  4 PagesAshley Walker Mr. Scott INTD 101-18: The Art of Seduction 29 September 2011 A False History James Loewen uses his piece Lies my Teacher Told Me to reveal the flaws in America’s mainstream textbooks. Loewen points out the fact that textbooks try to â€Å"indoctrinate blind patriotism† (Loewen 6) and â€Å"keep students in the dark about the nature of history† (Loewen 8). Almost every American textbook sells history using the â€Å"soft seduction† approach, as explained in Robert Greene’s book, The Art ofRead MoreSummary : Indoctrinate Blind Patriotism 1151 Words   |  5 PagesElizabeth Tolentino Dr. Andrea Johnson Loewen Paper 29 September 2014 Question 1: What is your interpretation of the statement on page six that includes, â€Å"†¦indoctrinate blind patriotism†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Answer 1: In Lies My Teacher Told Me, James W. Loewen asserts that American history texts are harmful to students because of nationalism and books that â€Å"†¦are often muddled by the conflicting desires to promote inquiry and to indoctrinate blind patriotism† (Loewen 6). Loewen argues that American history texts areRead More The Decline of Education: Social and Economic Inequality Essay1193 Words   |  5 Pages and therefore people would be back to the starting block positions of hard manual labor. However, according to James Loewen’s â€Å"The Land of Opportunity,† even the educational system is slipping, stating that when he asked questions like, â€Å"why are people poor?† he got woefully inadequate responses. In both â€Å"The Land of Opportunity† and â€Å"Lies My History Teacher Told Me,† both by Loewen, the root cause of most of the problems in schools and their lack of adequate education are the textbooks. TheRead MoreFood Assumptions: Everything the Food Industry Does Not Want Consumers to Know1051 Words   |  5 Pagesmessage that the book, Lies My Teacher Told Me, by James Loewen, delivers about how the public is deceived in regards to history. One specific food lie is how the Corn Refiners Association wants the public to believe that High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) is the same as sugar and is perfectly healthy for consumption. As some research suggests, this is a faulty food assumption. Patriotic textbooks â€Å"leave out anything that might reflect badly upon [them]† (Loewen 5). Loewen argues that â€Å"if textbooksRead MoreEssay on Lies My Teacher Told Me910 Words   |  4 Pagesour past. This is where we get the misinterpretation of history. In chapter five of the book Lies My Teacher Told Me, these contradictions are brought into light and force us to look at them again. As I have learned in my history courses we can always question the accuracy of a story but we may never fully understand the truth. There have been three important times I have been through that have shaped my understanding of history today, specifically the part of history dealing with slavery and racismRead More The Hypocrisy of Teaching American History Essays630 Words   |  3 Pagesare the basic outline for American schools. In those subjects, where does history fit in? Some believe that teachers avoid history because of how corrupt America has been. James W. Loewen, author of L ies My Teacher Told Me, says, Parents may feel undermined when children get tools of information not available to adults and use them in ways that seem to threaten adult-held values. (Loewen 296.) The adults had to learn the same false history children are being taught today. By teaching children theRead More The Lies My Teacher Told Me and People’s History of the United States1462 Words   |  6 Pages either adding or subtracting certain details from the story. James Loewen, in The Lies My Teacher Told Me, reveals how much history has been changed by textbook writes so that students studying the textbooks can understand and connect to the information. In Howard Zinn’s, People’s History of the United States, the author recounts historical tales through the point of view of the common people. Mainstream media, as proven by Loewen and Zinn, often pollutes and dilutes history to make the information